Safety apparatus for railway-cars.



B'. F. WILLIAMS.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I7. 1914. Patented June 1, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

MN QN f W THE NORRIS PE1-'ERS C0.. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHlNGmN, D, C4

B. F. WILLIAMS.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY CARS.

5. 1L 0u 1l L L. m To m t m na D1 4H 9 7| Y L w D E L H N m T A C U. D DI A 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

ffii/1111111111 )WI/lam@ THE NDRRIS PETERS Ca. FHafc-LlTHo.-, WASHINGTON. D4 C.

- BENJAMIN F. WILLIAMS, 0F GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

ASpecieation of Letters Patent.

l Patented June 1, 1915.

Appncation mea July 17, 1914. serial No. 851,587.

To all whom t may concern Be it knownthat I, BENJAMIN F. WIL- LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Apparatus for Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specificatio This invention relates to improvements in safety apparatus for railway cars and has particular `application to safety apparatus for'use on railway mail cars and the like.

In carrying out the present invention, it is my purpose to providesafety apparatus of the class described which will be foundespecially useful in conjunction with railway mail cars and other cars carrying money or articles of value and whereby the door and window openings in'such car may be closed simultaneously in the event of a person entering'lthe car and' attempting to loot the same. i

' It is also my purpose to provide apparatus of the type set forthl whereby the door and window openings of the car may be closed simultaneously and'quickly'so as to trap the robber therein.` Y

Furthermore, I aim to provide safety apparatus forV railway mail cars which will embrace the desired features of simplicity, efficiency and durability, which may be installed and Vmaintained at a minimum eX- pensev and which will operate' effectively whennecessary.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth 'in and falling within the scope of the claim. 1 Y

In the accompanying drawings; Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view through a railway maill car equipped with safety apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 `is a horizontal sectional view therethrough. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the car.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, l designates the body of a railway mail car having the opposite side walls thereof formed with door openings 2 and window openings 3 appropriately spaced apart along the respective walls of the body and adapted to be closed through the medium of sliding doors and windows, as usual.

' Formed in one end wall of the car body 1s a door opening Ll adapted to be closed by means of the usual sliding door. As usual, the side and end walls of the car body are formed of inner and outer sections having the confronting faces thereof spaced apart to form an air space.

Disposed between the sections of each side wall of the car body above the door and window openings therein and extending longitudinally thereof is a track rail 5, while disposed between the sections of the end wall formed with the door opening 5 above such opening is a horizontal track rail 6 having the opposite ends thereof terminating contiguous to the adjacent ends of the track rails 5.

VSlidably mounted upon each track rail 5 are carriages 7 corresponding in number with the openings in the adjacent side wall of the car and each comprising a pair of vertically disposed arms 8 spaced apart and having the upper extremities thereof forked to receive the track rail. f

Journaled in the forked extremities of the arms 8 Vare rollers 9 disposed above the track railfand Vresting on the upper edge thereof to support the arms 8 and permit the latterto slide along the track rail with the least friction. i

Formed integral with the arms 8 of the carriages adjacent to each door opening 2 or otherwise connected thereto and depending therefrom is a closure which, in the present instance, is in the form of a plate l0 corresponding in dimensions with the dimensions of the adjacent door' opening so that'l when the carriage is moved in one direction along the trackway the plate will slide across the door opening and so obstruct the same. j

Formed integral with or otherwise connected to the arms 8 of the carriages 7 adjacent to the window openings 3 in each side wall and depending from such arms are closures l1 preferably, although not necessarily, in the form of plates and capable of longitudinal sliding movement in one direction to obstruct the window openings and in the opposite direction to open the same. Slidably mounted upon the track 6 is a carriage so. that `the same vwill move to open and closed positions simultaneously and Vin the present instance, the lower edges of the plates 11 in each side wall are fastened to a horizontal rod 14 and one end of such rod secured to the rear edge of the adjacent door number of persons is placed' in the complate 10 as at 15.

Connected with the carriage 7 of the rear window plate 1l in one side wallof the body is a cord 16 or other flexible element trained over a guide sheave 17 suitably fastened between the sections of the particular side wall of the car at the juncture of vsuch side wall with the end wall, the free end of the cord or chain 16 being connected with the carriage 12 carrying the door 13 so that when the plates 10 and 11 are moved to closed positions, the carriage 12 will be actuated along the track 6 to slide the plate across the door opening 4 and so close the Connected with the rear end'k of the carriage 12 is one end of a chain 18 or other flexiblev element having the opposite end thereof trained over a guide sheave 19 and equipped withy a weight20 depending therefrom and workingy within a casing 21, the weight 20 acting to .restore the plate 13 to normal position when the plates 10 and 11 are similarly actuated.

In the present instance, the actuating mechanism for the plates 10 and 11`in the opposite side walls 'of the car body and the plate 13 comprises horizontal rods 22 disposed below the door openings 2 in the side walls of the car and each havingone end ythereof projecting upwardly as at 23 through a slot 24 formed in the iioor of the car at -one side .of the adjacent door opening. These horizontal rods 22 are Vmounted for sliding movement in suitable bearings and the upturned end portions 23 thereof are suitablyT fastened to the respective plates 10, while the remaining ends project upwardly through slots in the floor of the car between the sections of the side walls and are pivotally connected with links 25 which in turn are pivoted to arms 26 fixed to the opposite extremities of an operating shaft 27 journaled in horizontally Yalining bearings transversely of -the car body. This shaft 27 is equipped with an operating handle 28 and is disposed adjacent to the end wall of the body opposite from that formed with the door opening 4.

'The interior of the car body 1 adjacent to the shaft 27 is provided with a transverse partition29 spaced apart from the shaft 27 and coperating 'with the adjacent end wall of" the car to form a compartment 30 de- Vwalls of the compartment formedby the adjacent portions of the side walls ofthe car body, are formed with sight holes 33. In practice, a guard composed'of any partment 30 and the 'door and Awindow openings opened up as usual. Should one or more persons board -the car and attempt to loot the same, the guard in the compartment grasps the handle 28 and rotatesthe shaft 27 thereby swinging the arms 26 in an arc and so exerting a pull upon the links 25 and the rods 22. Asthe rods 22 slide within their ybearings under the action of the shaft 27 the plates 10 and 11 in the oppositesides walls of the car and the plate 13 intheend wall of the ca-r `are moved to close the respective openings thereby trapping the persons within the car. When the door and window openings are closed, the

arms 26 lie in a substantially horizontal plane while the links 25 overlie theshaft 27 and inorder to lock the closures infactufatedlposition theunder edges of the links 25 are formed with depressions 34`that receive the end portions of the shaft27 and sohold the "closures against opening movement. 4 j

From, the foregoing ldescription taken in connection with the' accompanying drawings, theconstruction, mode.V of operation and manner of employing my invention will be readily apparent.. It will be seen that -I have provided Va safety apparatusl for railway cars wherein the sliding closures are disposed within thewalls of the car and are therefore invisible, while such closures may be quickly actuated to obstruct the door andwindow openings in the car so as to prevent escape therefrom.

While I have herein shown and described one preferred form of my invention by way of illustration, 'I wish it to be under-V connecting vsaid closures for simultaneous.:V` j

movement, horizontal rods connected to said closures, a horizontal actuating shaftjournaled transversely of the car body and oapable of rotary movement, arms connected to said shaft, links pivoted to the outer ends of said arms and having the remaining eX- tremities thereof pivotally connected to said rods and movable bodily from one side of said shaft to the other in the movement of the shaft whereby the rods Will be slid horizontally to actuate said closures to closed positions, said links having grooves in the under edges thereof designed to reoeive said shaft When the links are actuated to door closing position, and means for actuating said shaft.

In testimony whereof I alix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. WILLIAMS. Witnesses:

CHARLES A. BERRY, C. WAGENAAR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

